Career[edit]

One of the Philippines' business leaders and leading technocrats, he served as Finance
Minister from 1970 to 1986 under PresidentFerdinand Marcos. It was during this time that
the Philippines became economically strong through healthy trade and budgetary
surpluses. However, other studies show budgetary deficits during the same period (PIDS,
Budget Deficits, 2004, 4(1)), particularly during the later years of the Marcos regime.
These deficits were precipitated by the oil crises' and the mass protests against the Marcos
regime (supported by the international financial community) following the assassination of
opposition leader Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr.